Scattieness

and why can’t I vote for my helpful son, who’s birthday is today

But the terrible news is still overwhelming to me.

I am heartbroken by our collective failure to assist refugees from the conflicts in Syria, Yemen, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere. I’m disgusted by the racist and dehumanizing response to the refugee crisis that we’ve seen from governments in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia. 

Ethiopia–one of the poorest nations on earth–is currently home to more conflict refugees than the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. Ethiopia can help, but we can’t? Bullshit.

Those fleeing the civil wars in Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere are not someone else. They are not some mere Other that can dismiss as less fully human than ourselves. When they die, their blood is on our hands.

MASHUP

Uptown Funk + Get’cha Head in the Game, High School Musical

Christianity is not an inherently intolerant religion, and there are many Christian faiths that celebrate and fight for gay rights. Around half of Christians in America support gay rights and do not see homosexuality as incompatible with their church.

But if you feel as if gay people are going to hell for loving each other, that is an intolerant and destructive belief. You’re allowed to have it, and there are worse things to believe, but you can’t pretend like it isn’t intolerant because you “love the sinner and hate the sin.” Tell a person you love that the comfort they find in their spouse’s arms will result in them burning for eternity and ask yourself if your beliefs are tolerant. Of course I understand that many religious systems forbid you from questioning what you have been taught or changing your mind, and so it is impossible for some people to not have these intolerant beliefs. That’s fine, but you don’t get to say they aren’t intolerant, and you don’t get to say you “love” someone who’s love you see as so evil that you think God will torture them for it forever. Maybe you aren’t intolerant, but your beliefs are, and you can either accept that or ignore it.

I mean, I’m not even persecuted AT ALL for ANYTHING, but I know that look when someone you love thinks you’re going to hell. That look /hurts/ and it hurts bad. That look can destroy relationships and ostracize a person from their community. That look is deeply destructive and the fact that the person giving it thinks that it comes from a place solely of love does not make it better, it makes it worse. It makes you hate the person giving it to you because they’re so blind to the intolerance that lives right behind their eyes. It’s soul crushing. It’s world eating. 

If you feel like any of this is harsh, just remember that /far/ worse things are being said and done to LGBT people in America and across the world.